CulturGastronomy – Enhancement of gastronomy tourism potential of small traditional food producers & increasing cultural awareness of EU & national gastronomic heritage
Programme: Erasmus +, KA2 Strategic partnership: Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training
Project coordinator: CDE Petra Patrimonia (France)
Project partners: Universidad De Salamanca (Spain); Universita Politecnica Delle Marche (Italy) Mesogeiako Kentro Perivallontos (Greece); Instituto Politecnico Da Guarda (Portugal)
Project duration: 01/01/2023 – 28/04/2025
The main objective of the project is to enhance the key competences of local farmers and family producers of traditional food & beverages in gastronomical tourism entrepreneurship and digital marketing and to increasing the cultural awareness of local communities & business on the importance & value of the intangible gastronomic heritage for the benefit of the entire community.
The specific objectives are to:
- enhance the competences of local farmers and family producers of traditional food & beverages to provide qualitative services in gastronomic tourism through improving their entrepreneurial skills, knowledge in digital marketing and competences in sustainable development and environment preservation;
- increased capacity for local farmers and family producers of traditional food & beverages to expand their business potential through development of gastronomic tourism by providing training in innovative practices and in sustainable management of their business model & offered services;
- support the uptake of innovative approaches and digital technologies for training local farmers and family producers in gastronomical tourism entrepreneurship, digital & social media marketing;
- develop sustainable partnerships among local farmers, family producers and tourist service provider in order to establish working and sustainable touristic networks that can support local development and create opportunities for local communities to increase their touristic offer and attractiveness to tourists;
- highlight the importance of the preservation and promotion of the existing local, regional and national gastronomic heritage for the benefit of the local communities;
- raising the awareness on the link between the local & regional intangible gastronomic heritage and the development potential of the region & local community.
The main two target groups are:
- Small and family producers of local, typical or endogenous foods and drinks in order to better design and enhance their products as well as to develop product offerings within the scope of gastronomic tourism;
- Tourism service providers that can diversify and improve their offer through gastronomic tourism and the storytelling of products and their cultural surroundings.
The group of project stakeholders & beneficiaries includes also: Local artisans in order to maintain techniques & artefacts related to food heritage, combining traditional techniques with new technologies; Craftsmen in the agri-food sector; New entrepreneurs active in the rural tourism sector; Entrepreneurs and workers in the hotel, catering and trade of regional products; Young people who want to improve their qualifications and integrate the labour market; etc.
Project results:
- CulturGastronomy methodology & curriculum – it is based on good practices & partners’ experience in developing of training courses following the blended learning approach. It provides the structure and the main points of the training process that will lead to achievement of the project goals.
- CulturGastronomy Training course – it provides training materials that will develop the competences of the small local food & beverages producers & tourism service providers to improve their market positions and enhance their competitiveness through gastronomic tourism. The course also supports producers to expand their business by getting involved in the tourism sector and the local providers to expand their offers and attract new tourists by developing a gastronomic touristic offer.
- Gastronomy & Cultural heritage Guidebook – it shall help the target group to learn more about the gastronomic tourism & the role of the food as part of the intangible cultural heritage of EU. As well as on the typical characteristics of the Mediterranean diet. It shall raise the awareness of both business & local communities on the importance of local foods production & preservation of the culinary identity of our regions.
- CulturGastronomy Manual for trainers – it shall support the trainers of small and family producers of food & drinks & local tourism providers and shall provide methodological instruction on how to conduct the GastroTour training course and how to interact with the representatives of the target group.
- CulturGastronomy platform – it is user-friendly, intuitive and comprehensive online space that supports all interested parties to learn and know more about the entrepreneurship & digital marketing in gastronomic tourism as well as about the value of endogenous gastronomic resources & way to preserve and promote the culinary identity of a region as a touristic destination.
Project website: https://cultourgastronomy.eu/